The news media is full of reports about a church shooting in Tennessee, but it should be noted it took place in a Unitarian Universalist church which, like most UU churches, was really just a place for religious humanists. MSNBC reports on the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church:

The gunman’s motive is not yet known. The church, like many other Unitarian Universalist churches, promotes progressive social work, such as desegregation and fighting for the rights of women and gays. The Knoxville congregation has provided sanctuary for political refugees, fed the homeless and founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, according to its Web site.

Kemper said the gunman shouted before he opened fire.

“It was hateful words. He was saying hateful things,” she said, but refused to elaborate.

The man arrested is 58-year old Jim Adkisson. And now new details are emerging that suggest possible motives. A local TV station reports:

A neighbor told 10News Adkisson described himself as a “Confederate” and a “believer in the old South.” She says Adkisson self-identified in this way to her on more than one occasion, but that she didn’t know what he meant by it.

It will be interesting to see if more information corroborates that. I don’t want to place this firmly inside a simple narrative so soon, but it sounds as though we may have a neo-confederate who decided to get back at those liberal queers he hates so much. Time will tell if that conclusion is justified. At least two people died in the attack and many more were wounded.

Comments

This guy is probably insane, but clearly, he is not ‘criminally insane’. The ABC article I cited above, shows that the attack was premeditated, and that the perpetrator was fully cognizant that he was committing a criminal act.

As to this falling under Federal terrorism or hate crimes statutes, I believe that the House Republican Study Committee, would disagree. To stretch Federal code that far would be a ‘violation’ of the 1st Amendment’s Establishment clause in their minds, which should cause anyone whose Congressional District is represented by one of these conservative clowns to stop and reflct just what sort of hateful religion their representative subscribes too.